Carol Glatz

“The liturgy is Christ’s work and the church’s, and as such, it is a living body,” Pope Francis told members of Italy’s Association of Professors of Liturgy.

After a series of deadly clashes erupted in Iraq, Pope Francis said “dialogue and fraternity” were needed to overcome the current situation and to become a nation of diverse communities living in peace.

Becoming a member of the broad, unique body of the College of Cardinals is both a great honor and an invitation to help promote a renewal of the Catholic Church’s mission of evangelization, some new cardinals said.

Pope Francis will lead a number of major events at the end of August, starting with the creation of 20 new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In the more than 700 years that have passed since St. Celestine established the legal precedent, the right of a pope to resign remains ensured in church law.